News & Analysis.
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Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
CHINA IS CLAIMING THAT COVID-19 IS A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON OF AMERICA. IS IT? https://www.quora.com/China-is-claiming-that-COVID-19-is-a-biological-weapon-of-America-Is-it/answer/Vince-Dhimos No one will ever know. However, the US government and its obedient media partners are calling this Chinese theory a “conspiracy theory” (a term with a consistently negative connotation) while Pompeo has called it “outrageous,” and government lapdog Breitbart wrote a hit piece on the Chinese who disseminated the theory, peppering the article with negative emotional terms aimed at an audience that likes to say “thinking makes my head hurt.” As usual, no one in government or msm even made the least attempt to disprove this theory. And in all my searches, no mainstream US media quoted the entire Chinese argument, which is powerful and raises questions that the US refuses to answer. However, I did find the complete set of Chinese arguments in several foreign sites, almost all in countries not aligned with the US. Thus, the US government and its partners in msm have closed the case before trying it. You aren’t supposed to know. The Chinese and Russians made valid arguments, notably the fact that it is overly coincidental that the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, the epicentre of China during Chinese New Year, the ideal time to spread a disease because most Chinese return to their parental homes at that time. The White House petition web site no longer allows access to the petition demanding an explanation of the sudden urgent shutdown of the US Army’s bio weapons research base Fort Detrick, although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which ordered the shutdown, claimed the order was motivated in part because the site lacked adequate facilities for waste water treatment and disposal of dangerous bio waste. In fact, since this is true (as reported in this near-mainstream publication before the outbreak: US army's weapons lab shut down after inspection finds deadly viruses could escape), then that is a big clue that some waste from the site may have infected humans, drawing the CDC’s attention to the problem and prompting them to close the base. The big question is whether Fort Detrick was involved in coronavirus research. But for the pro-Trump Breitbart site and the US government, asking this question is “outrageous” or ridiculous. Breitbart claims the petition in question got only 400 signatures, but here is the problem: When I went to the petition site yesterday to check on that and tried to do an on-site search using the search word “Detrick,” I was only able to type as far as “Detr...” when it would no longer allow any further letters to be entered. When I tried again, I got an error message. Today it was worse: I was unable to reach the page’s on-site search at all, so I tried to create an account but was unable to complete that. I was blocked (I guess there was a record of my having searched trying to use “Detrick” as the search word). Now, in response to Mike Pompeo’s sneering dismissal of the Chinese theory as “outrageous,” I would ask Mike which is more outrageous: presenting a theory based on suspicious known facts about a US army facility that tests dangerous viruses or preventing Americans (or others), curious about the possible contamination issuing from said site, from using a White House petition site that is supposed to be open to all on any topic? Shouldn’t Americans be allowed to know about a risk to their health? Of course, this is the era when Julian Assange is sitting in jail, so it’s naive -- and perhaps risky? -- to ask. I did a Chinese-language search and found an article in Chinese at Sohu (美军传染病研究所刚关闭，新冠肺炎爆发，民众质问：是否泄漏病毒_美国政府). My translation of that article appears below with my comments in [brackets]. BEGIN TRANSLATION U.S. Army Infectious Diseases Institute closed just as novel coronavirus respiratory disease breaks out March 13, 2020 With the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic worldwide, finding the source of the virus has become a top priority. The United States government failed to prevent the outbreak of the epidemic under the guidelines of "predictability." Trump was optimistic because 46 states and two special districts in the United States were completely unaffected. However, on March 11, [Robert] Redfield, director of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged for the first time that deaths from novel coronary virus respiratory disease in the United States had been misdiagnosed as influenza deaths. It is fully proved that the novel coronary virus has already entered the community transmission stage in the United States. Among the 20,000 people who died of the flu this year include patients with novel coronavirus disease. Some Americans believe that the novel coronavirus [COVID-19] may also come from the United States. The U.S. government’s large-scale deletion of content related to the largest biological and chemical weapons base in the United States [Fort Detrick. This base is not officially for developing offensive bio weapons but purports to seek vaccines and cures of potential bio weapons], which claims to maintain “free speech,” has heightened public doubts. On the White House petition website, the Americans asked the U.S. government to clarify whether the base is a new coronavirus “COVID19” Development unit. [The White House has closed this petition since the Chinese allegation emerged. This administration clearly cannot bear scrutiny or deal with dialogue] White House Petition According to the New York Times report on the 12th, Fort Detrick military base is the largest biochemical weapon base in the United States [in fact, it was repurposed from “offensive” to “defensive” in 1969 but still researched deadly viruses until August 2019 US army's weapons lab shut down after inspection finds deadly viruses could escape], and the base has a subsidiary of the US Army's Top Secret Institute for Infectious Disease Medicine. In August 2019, the U.S. government suddenly decided to urgently close Fort Detrick. A statement issued by the U.S. Army's Institute of Infectious Diseases Medicine at the base states that the shutdown order was issued by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, requesting that all research be stopped on the grounds that the base has no critical system for wastewater treatment and purification. The institute was tasked with studying bacteria and toxins that could threaten the U.S. military, with more than 900 employees at the time. END TRANSLATION I cannot stress enough the importance of teaching Russian and Chinese (but also Arabic and Farsi) to aspiring young professionals in the West. This is rarely or unconscientiously done and this major gap in Western education suggests that Westerners are not supposed to have the tools needed to sort out the facts from the fiction regarding key regions of the world. As things stand today, Western academe is a big deep black hole in the universe of knowledge. Breaking news from Al Masdar https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-new-attack-reported-on-large-iraqi-base-hosting-us-troops/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=push%notificationss&utm_content=varies Breaking: New attack reported on large Iraqi base hosting US troops News Desk - 2020-03-17 BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:10 P.M.) – A new attack has been reported north of Baghdad this evening after a number of rockets targeted a military base. According to preliminary reports, as many as three rockets struck the Taji Base north of Baghdad, marking the second time in the last four days that it has been targeted. No further details have been released at this time. This report comes just a day after the U.S. Coalition announced their withdrawal from several small bases inside Iraq.
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